UH’s $300M quest to join a Power Five conference about to pay off.

Cougars’ quest to join Power Five nearly over

The pursuit of a spot in one of college athletics’ major conferences has come with a whatever-it-takes attitude from the University of Houston.

To raise its athletic profile, UH has spent upwards of $250 million to build the type of infrastructure to rival Power Five schools. The price tag includes a new oncampus football stadium, indoor practice facility, upgraded basketball facilities, a new indoor track and baseball player development center. Record-setting salaries, by UH standards, have allowed the university to lure big-name coaches.

On the football field, the Cougars flirted with unbeaten seasons in 2011, the last season under coach Kevin Sumlin, and 2015, the debut season for coach Tom Herman. Briefly, in

2016, UH was mentioned as a dark horse to crash the College Football Playoff. The men’s basketball program has become one of the best in the nation, advancing to the Final Four in March.

To become “nationally relevant” and turn UH into an athletic powerhouse has long been the ambition of school chancellor Renu Khator.

“Our investment is serious,” Khator has repeatedly said.

The only thing missing: Membership in a Power Five conference.

That will all change when the Big 12 is expected to formally welcome four new members — Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and Central Florida — on Friday. All four schools have overwhelming support to join what, at least for now, will be a 14team league until the departure of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC.

At long last, UH will get its wish of a seat at the big boys’ table of college athletics. A wait 25 years in the making has not been for a lack of trying.

After the breakup of the Southwest Conference in the mid-1990s, four schools (Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech) merged with the Big Eight to form what would become the Big 12. That left the Cougars to wander the wilderness, a journey that took them from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference, both conferences outside the Power Five establishment that includes the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 and Big 12.

Rumors of interest from the Pac-12 remained just that, and the only other opportunity came in 2016 when the Big 12 explored expansion. UH officials, along with a dozen other schools, made elaborate presentations. After three months, the Big 12 decided to remain at 10 schools. With a mix of anger and disappointment, UH representatives had to wonder how long they would have to wait for another shot.

“If anybody belongs (in the Big 12), the University of Houston does,” Tilman Fertitta, the UH System Board of Regents chairman, said in 2016.

The mission did not change. If UH was not going to be in the Power Five, it at least would run the athletic program like one.

UH spent $130 million on 40,000-seat TDECU Stadium. Next was $85 million in upgrades for the Fertitta Center and Guy V. Lewis Development Facility. Another $20 million for football’s indoor practice facility.

“There’s really one thing left in athletics,” third-year football coach Dana Holgorsen said this week.

That would be a footballonly operations building, which would allow UH to move out of its current offices inside the AthleticAlumni Center. The project is expected to cost about $60 million.

“It’s going to be talked about a lot,” Holgorsen added. “It’s a high priority across this campus.”

UH has signed Holgorsen and men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson to the two richest deals in school history with nearly $40 million committed through 2027. Holgorsen is making $4 million this season, and Sampson will earn an estimated $3.3 million next season. Both coaches are in line for $1 million bonuses when UH joins the Big 12.

Since 2014, UH’s total athletic operating budget has increased from $39.4 million to $73.6 million in 2019, according to a database compiled by the Knight Commission on spending in college athletics. UH’s budget is among the highest among the socalled Group of Five but dwarfed by the lucrative payouts that come with Power Five membership. The median budget for Big 12 schools during that span was $96.7 million.

“We have to act as if (we’re in a Power Five conference),” UH athletic director Chris Pezman told ESPN in 2019. Pezman canceled a scheduled speaking engagement at Thursday’s Bayou Bucket luncheon. Monty Porter, UH’s deputy athletic director, told the crowd Pezman was “occupied” with other matters, presumably the final touches on UH’s monumental day.

Currently, UH receives $7 million in revenue distribution from the AAC. Big 12 schools currently average $37 million annually in television rights, including revenue from bowl games and NCAA Tournament. Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the Big 12 could see the value of its TV deal decrease by 50 percent with the exits of Texas and Oklahoma. The move to the Big 12 would still provide a financial windfall of an extra $13 million-$18 million, some analysts predict.

In the end, UH officials believe the wait will have been worth it.